The present invention generally relates to a method for testing peripheral servers, and more particularly to a method for testing the performance of the data paths of a server which is operably connected to peripherals or multi-function peripherals that are adapted to be connected to a network system.
In any given network, especially in an office environment, it is common to find peripherals such as a printer and/or a scanner connected to the network. This arrangement allows a number of computers that are attached to the network to share the services of the network printer and/or the scanner. Recently, multi-function peripherals (MFP) have been introduced, which combine printing, scanning and other functions into a single peripheral.
A peripheral is typically connected to the network via a dedicated server, which allows the users on the network to share the peripheral. The server includes a data path or gateway that provides network access to the peripheral functions, such as scanning and printing. The primary purpose of the gateway is to simply pass data back and forth between the network and the peripheral. Therefore, it is desirable to test the gateway so that its performance can be measured.
Conventionally, the performance of the server in receiving and sending data is measured over the entire gateway. This involves initiating a function and measuring the performance by dividing the total amount of data sent through the server by the total amount of time required for the server to receive and transmit the data. Although this method provides an accurate measurement for overall throughput (performance), it is incapable of identifying the performance characteristics of individual portions of the gateway. For example, if the rate at which the server received data were much faster than the rate at which it could transmit the data, there would be a xe2x80x9cbottleneckxe2x80x9d of data at the portion of the gateway which transmits the received data. Thus, the conventional measurement would only be able to detect the overall data rate of the gateway, but not the data rate of the specific portions. Understanding the performance characteristics of the individual portions of a data path or gateway enables the designers of peripheral servers to more easily and efficiently make internal design changes that will improve the overall performance of their products.
Accordingly, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide an improved method for independently testing different portions of a gateway.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide such an improved method for separately measuring the performance of a network interface portion and a peripheral interface portion of a gateway.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such an improved method for measuring the performance effects of modifying the maximum packet size of data transmitted through a gateway.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such an improved method for measuring the ability of a gateway to quickly and repeatedly open and close communication with a peripheral.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such an improved method for generating a status report containing the test results of the above-described measurements.